Hostess of the Week: 'People Get Aggressive in Miami'

ESQUIRE:Do you have a history of winning contests or awards like this? Win any superlatives in high school?

MELISSA CONWAY: No! I didn't. I was so nerdy. That's probably why this is so cool. I feel like I finally hit the big time.

ESQ:Hostess of the Week is kind of the big time. What makes you such a good hostess?

MC: I approach hostessing and life in the same way: always treat everyone with kindness. Everyone who walks through my front door — at the restaurant, I call it "my front door" — is important to me. I want everybody to just feel happy and enjoy their time while they're there. I've got to be there, you might as well enjoy yourself. Give it all you've got.

ESQ:How do you deal with people who are waiting forever?

MC: You know what the secret is? I actually work with a couple models who can pretty much smooth over anyone's bad mood.

ESQ:That must help. Any horror stories while working?

MC: Oh my god, I've had people, literally, get in my face. Like, "Give me my table." Listen, if you can find a table in the restaurant, I promise, you can have it. I'm not trying to make you wait. Just bear with me. People tend to get aggressive in Miami, very aggressive. It's an aggressive city, you know. It's a power town.

ESQ:That's crazy.

MC: Literally, people lean over my hostess stand, get in my face, like, "Listen to me, I want my table right now."

ESQ:A Hostess of the Week deserves much better than that.

MC: I work with a great team of people — they handled it. At the end of the night, that person actually left and gave me a big hug.

ESQ:Talk about weird. And slightly bipolar.

MC: If you can walk up in my face, and leave liking me, then fine...

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ESQ:It's a testament to how good of a hostess you are. Anything non-bipolar and fun that's happened while working? People have a tendency to get engaged in restaurants.

MC: Engagements actually are not, for me, as exciting as say, Dennis Rodman walking into the front door — he is wild, you know. You never know who's going to walk in at the Forge. You're going to meet Sharon Stone. You're going to meet Rick Ross. "Oh, hey, Rick Ross! How are ya? I was born in Miami, I adore you."

ESQ:What's the one celebrity you've been most star-struck by?

MC: Her name is Gabrielle Anwar. She's an actress from Burn Notice, and she's phenomenal. She comes in all the time, and she's this little pistol, but she's just so cool. I watch her on TV all the time, and she blows shit up, and she's so bad. In real life, she's so sweet and cool.

ESQ:I've never met anyone who actually watches Burn Notice. I'm glad you can vouch for it.

MC: You know, I like anything filmed in Miami. I just like seeing my hometown.

ESQ:Are the celebrities you run into generally taller or shorter in person?

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